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Summary

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is so-named from the Persian word rubáiyát - a Persian word denoting a specific type of two-line stanza. Omar's Rubaiyat is a beautiful anthology of Islamic wisdom literature: originally penned in medieval Persian during the late 11th century AD.  
The best known English translations are those by Edward Fitzgerald: his fifth (and last) translation includes a mere 101 quatrains - a fraction of Omar's original work. Fitzgerald's selection loosely groups quatrains by theme; rendering quatrains into English as four-line, rhymed stanzas.  
Omar's writings are pervaded by the consciousness of the transient quality of life. In his Rubáiyát, the author ponders the limits of human knowledge and morality: and confronts his readers point-blank with the difficult questions that challenge every generation:  
- what is the ultimate benefit derived from human knowledge?  
- given human mortality; is is best to guide our lives by the dictates of reason, or sensuality?  
- what happens to my soul when I die?  
- why did God - the Creator - give me existence?  
 
(Introduction by Godsend)

Duration: 38 minutes (00:37:35)
Publishing date: 2014-08-25; Copyright Year: 1889. Copyright Statment: —

• Poetry & Theatre